If you live in a funky enough town, you may occasionally spot an “art car.” Often an old beater with little resale value, its owner will have decided to, say, paint a mural on the hood, make a mosaic out of glued-on coins, or affix little plastic dolls all over the front and rear bumpers. Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ ’til you’ve gone for a ride with Harrod Blank. The son of legendary documentary filmmaker Les Blank, Harrod has tracked down as many of these misfit exhibitionists as possible and documented the effort in books and movies. With his second film, Automorphosis, getting ready for booking into arthouse theaters, it’s a great time to catch up with his work, which is available at Blank’s online store as well as at better retailers. Blank’s 1992 film Wild Wheels ($29.95 on DVD), my first introduction to this phenomenon, has plenty of colorful interviews with the folks who make these cars and demonstrates that, yes, even the kookiest of them are capable of moving down the road. Two books, Wild Wheels ($18.95) and Art Cars (two editions, $18.95 and $19.95), offer mini profiles of each car’s builder along with the expected photos. The second book has sharper and more varied photos, but newcomers should definitely check out the movie, which has an enthusiasm for the art-car movement that’s hard to resist. And check out the virtual tour of Blank’s own Camera Van (pictured). Yes, it’s studded with cameras and its license plate is “CAMRA VN.”